Np9758-G arrived with slight cosmetic issue

This is obviously something real small, nothing I'm going to RMA over, but I guess it's just one of those things where you paid a lot of money for something and you're real excited about it, so you want it to at least start out perfect even if you're going to scratch it up soon after. Anyway, the smal defect is sadly pretty eye catching for as small as it is -- the speaker bar is painted black, but mine has 3 small spots where there's no black paint, resulting in the shiney metallic color underneath catching my eye all the time. Anyone have any experience finding the right color black paint or marker where I can fix this? If I go too dark that will be even worse. Picture attached.

Comment if this would bug you haha.

 

id go ahead and try a waterproof black marker to at least make it blend in more properly, should work to get rid of its "eye-catching" properties

 

Sorry to hear! Hope the performance is going well for you

I'd probably go with the marker idea, painting is a lot of work, and difficult to paint those grills with perfection.

The thing i worry about with the marker is it might be just a little off from the normal color, but it should make it considerably less eye catching.

 

oh and yes, it would definitely bug me! ive already cleaned those speaker grills several times using a small brush because some bright colored particle got caught in there @eye catching

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You could try a paint touch-up pen (used for cars normally).

Lots more colour ranges and they don't have the dark purple/magenta sheen that normal comes from markers on metal surfaces. You could probably find a matte-black which should blend pretty well.

 

It looks like someone dropped a tool on it during assembly, taking chunks out of the metal, and removing plating/paint on the way through.

I would definitely tell your vendor about it, and ask them what they want to do about it.

It's something they have likely dealt with before, and have a recourse for it - either send you a replacement part to put in yourself, repair it for you, or compensate you for the damage.

It's not unreasonable to demand an undamaged laptop new laptop, since that is what you paid for.

It's a small area of damage, but as you say it bugs you constantly since it's right in your view all the time you are using it.

I would ask them to fix it.

 

Normally I would agree, and I appreciate you being in my corner like that. But realistically, brushing my finger over it and looking at it really close, it doesn't look like an impact damage at all. The spots are completely flush with the areas around them, and I cant see any scrapes, theres no bending of the metal or indent in those spots. The black painted surrounding is a really really thin coat, so it really is entirely flush and smooth when I rub my finger over the spots. My guess is that during the spray painting of this specific part, there was maybe a couple specs of dust in those spots that prevents the paint from hitting the metal, and the dust got brushed away later on.

 

That's what it looks like to me, my dock uses a similar mesh and a black marker works very well on it.

 

It's pretty tough in the painting / cladding process to have that kind of inclusion and not notice it. If that were a part coming in from a supplier, it would be rejected for cosmetic reasons.

Even if it isn't ground into the metal, it's still an eyesore - no sense making excuses for the vendor either, they had to have seen it - and they pushed the problem down to you.

It's not something to accept without letting them know you are making an accommodation.

If you aren't going to do it for yourself, do it for all those others that might get more of this shoddy QA pushed down to them to deal with.

If you push back and don't accept it, that sends a message that they will remember next time this happens - they won't do it again.

 

I'm really just worried about using a marker that might be too dark, and then not being able to wash it away. I guess ill start with something really light and error on the side of caution.

I'll take your advice and contact the vendor and see if maybe I can get some kind of compensation. You're right that even though its a small thing, it isn't something that I should really have to deal with out of box.

 

If you take it upon yourself to fix it without asking the vendor first, you might be stuck with the damage...

As long as you don't touch the bare metal with a solvent, or something else that could contaminate the metal, they can send that part back to the metal finishing shop, strip the paint, and refinish it like new.

If the bare metal gets contaminated, it might not hold/take paint / cladding - which might have been the problem in the first place when it was finished - it almost looks like a splash of something got on the metal and kept the paint/cladding from sticking.

 

I'll email the vendor first and I'll post back here the result.

 

no worries there, u can just remove the marker again by using nail polish remover or acetone, even ethanol would work, but not as well

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Agreed.. See what your vendor says and then try solving it... Don't spray paint etc yet..

 

My vendor LPC Digital got back to me. @Larry@LPC-Digital is a really nice guy, and he offered to let me exchange or refund, but I have to pay for shipping, and I have to go without a laptop for another week+. Unfortunately Sager touched it last, from what he told me. He emailed Sager about it for me, but I doubt we get any sort of resolution from them besides a "sorry", if that. Just a bit disappointing, you're so excited about something like this and it shows up looking like proper attention wasn't paid to it.

 

I got a call today from @Larry@LPC-Digital, really great guy with a really strong sense of customer support. He called me after hours to assure me that he had a good talk with Sager regarding this cosmetic issue and how it got through QA, and that he didn't take it lightly. He told me that I can have it sent in for warranty with free shipping both ways whenever I would like since he and Sager both have the picture I sent him on file, so if I send it in even a good many months from now, they will still fix it under warranty as long as I am still under the warranty period. I decided that I would hold off until any other issue arises down the line (hopefully none do), and then I'll send it in and get both issues fixed at once, but it's not worth me going without a laptop for a week+ just for this. Either way, LPC Digital -- great company, and thank you, Larry.

As far as voiding the warranty goes by trying to fix this on my own -- Larry suggested that even though they have the picture as proof that it showed up with the defect, it is safer to just darken the metal with something that can be removed later, until I decide whether or not I want to send it in for fixing. So I think I'll just darken it with a dark graphite pencil for now.

 

Just be sure to blow out any carbon dust